Turning occasional viewers into dedicated S4C watchers will be the new challenge for the Welsh-speaking channel, according to chief executive

More people are watching S4C programmes for longer, the Welsh language channel’s annual report reveals.

Around 6.5 million people throughout the UK viewed S4C last year – up from 5.3m in 2012 and they spent an average of eight hours per week watching programmes, an increase of an hour on the previous year.

But the number of people tuning in to S4C on average each week fell slightly from 599,000 to 578,000.

The number of Welsh-speaking viewers in Wales watching S4C in an average week dropped from 216,000 to 194,000, the report added.

S4C Authority chairman Huw Jones said more needed to be done to ensure viewers watch the channel more often.

“In terms of reach, there is mixed news, with weekly reach down, mainly due to a reduction in the channel's ability to compete for sports rights, but annual reach has increased as the channel attracted more occasional viewers.”

The report is the first since the S4C Authority and the BBC Trust entered into a new partnership.

Mr Jones said the channel’s performance assessment shows the service has adapted substantially in order to cope with the reduction in budget.

"The Authority believes that, creatively, S4C has done well in facing up to changing linguistic demographics, while delivering major savings to cope with the substantial funding reduction it has faced since 2011.

“Our overall perception is that programme quality in most genres has been high, with a number of particularly striking achievements, particularly in the fields of drama and documentaries and that the service has consistently been appreciated by Welsh-speakers and by substantial numbers of non-Welsh speakers.

"We were very glad to see a number of digital initiatives coming to fruition.

"This is an area which is of great importance if we are to continue to connect with younger viewers in particular, but also to provide for the needs of a population on the move.

"While overall weekly reach in Wales and across the UK is down, a good deal of this can be ascribed to a reduction in our ability to acquire the rights to broadcast high-quality sport, as a result of fiercer competition which is likely to continue, and some is due to a change in the BARB measuring panel.

“Viewing by Welsh speakers is more consistent, however, while there is a striking increase in the number of occasional viewers across the UK who have tuned in at some point during the year."

Chief executive Ian Jones said the clear challenge was to build on the success of attracting occasional viewers so they return more often to view S4C programmes.

"We have seen significant and far-reaching changes at S4C over the last two years and there will be many more challenges over the year to come – creative and practical challenges.

"Our key challenges are to ensure that we continue to provide the highest quality service possible to the widest audience possible on a wide range of platforms and devices, to continue to innovate and to build sound foundations for a strong, national, independent organisation for the future and strive to turn casual viewers into more regular viewers.

“The future is challenging but exciting. I look forward to working with the independent production sector, BBC Cymru and S4C's staff to ensure that all of this becomes a reality and that we set a firm foundation for the next stage in the history of S4C beyond 2017."

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Mark Thomas

Liverpool-born Mark joined the Daily Post in January 2014 after seven years as editor of its Merseyside sister title the Liverpool Post. He started out as a weekly news reporter on Wirral Newspapers, and spent seven years at the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo. He was The Press Association's regional correspondent for North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire from 1983 to 1997, before returning to the ECHO as deputy news editor. He has won a number of journalism awards, including the UK Press Gazzette Regional Reporter of the Year award, and in 1993 wrote a book on the James Bulger murder.